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TRP: Hansel, Luci, and Roddy (Picnic)
Muse: ' Sanctuary of Eldath, later same day as they killed the kraken and Sugar got Sugar-napped again. Today had not been a very good day so far. What was supposed to be a fun little vacation left them one member short of their party. Thankfully she wasn't dead but still. Roddy missed Sugar. But, Sanctuary, so- that meant he could hang out with Luci some more! And Hansel was around too, and they were all family now so. Roddy decided he'd try throwing a little picnic. He managed to wheedle a fair amount of food off the kitchen staff, and then set things into motion. First: Hansel. Tell him about the picnic, by that lake he and Luci had thrown swords in the one time, then go and find Luci and ask her. Both said yes, which was great! Roddy was setting up a little family outing and it was gonna be the best ever! Next step, take off, get the food, set up and wait till the time he'd told them to show up. Roddy was humming a happy little tune to himself as he made sure everything was juuuuuuust right. Now to wait, try not to vibrate out of his shell, and hope that they hurry up. '''Izzy: ' Luci had been quietly delighted to see Roddy again. He was sweet -- a little odd, but sweet. And she didn't often get visitors, so she rarely had any reason to turn her attention from her patients and studies, and her Eldathyn sisters often told her she needed to relax more. She just found that difficult without anything else to distract herself with. Roddy was a lovely distraction. She didn't have to feel guilty if she was spending time with him, even though it was something she was doing for herself. She met him by the lake, spotting him from a distance -- the big turtle with the brightly-painted shell was hard to miss -- and smiling, giving him a small wave with the hand unoccupied by her staff. He had quite a lot of food ready, she thought. She'd just gotten close enough to softly comment, "I really like what you've done with your shell," when Hansel appeared on the other side of the clearing, obviously headed their way. Ah. They both froze for a second, and Luci saw Hansel's eyes widen and flicker to Roddy, then back to her. She understood immediately. This was going to be a nice family meal. Roddy -- didn't know any better. She sat down beside him, smiling, and Hansel joined them with a weak salute, doing a mediocre job of pretending this was all fine. He crossed his legs to drop down on Roddy's other side. "Looks great, kid." 'Muse: ' They were here! Both here! Roddy beamed, looking back from one to the other. "Thanks! Sugar... helped." Right. Sugar. She'd be back. Yeah. It'd be fine. ...Was it even fine now? Hansel didn't- seem as happy as Roddy'd expected. He had made sure there was plenty of stuff for Hansel to eat right? Roddy glanced back at the food. Yeah, yeah there was barely any meat in here at all. It was probably just his imagination, he- hadn't tried interacting with more than one family at a time yet. (Jonn and Hansel hadn't been family yet so then didn't count.) Yeah. It was just Roddy's nerves. It was fine. "Thanks Hansel!" Roddy said, patting his dad on the back. And then for good measure, reaching over and gently resting his hand on Luci's too. "I thought we could use some- cheering up after the. You know. So I set up us a surprise!" Oh wait. Luci probably didn't know what the 'you know' was. He leaned over and said, "One of our teammates had to go back with her family for a bit. We're missing her already." 'Izzy: ' Oh, he was so happy to see them both. That made it worse. Luci glanced at Hansel again. He almost outright grimaced at the mention of their absent teammate, but then his face was halfway there most of the time, anyway. But when he looked back to Roddy, his expression softened. The way it always did when he looked at Jonn. Luci picked at a basket of berries. "I'm sorry to hear that. Family can be, um. Challenging, like that, sometimes. Will she be back soon?" She caught Hansel looking away again, like he was guilty about something. He wasn't eating. 'Muse: ' "She didn't say. It's okay though, I've got a spell, I can check in with her in a day or so." It hadn't seemed this stilted and awkward back when it was Roddy, Hansel and Jonn. Maybe Luci was more like Hansel though- the quiet type. That was okay though, Roddy was a former circus performer! He could talk enough for all three of them! "So um, what was your family like then? Before Hansel?" Roddy asked, glancing briefly at his- their dad. "I guess I had one? We were part of a circus, that was neat!" 'Izzy: ' "Oh, that's good." She checked Hansel's reaction. He wasn't giving as much away now. "Um, well, Jonn is my only family, really. Our parents died when I was too young to remember them." She knew that Jonn had killed them, of course, but Hansel didn't, and there was no reason that Roddy should. They had just died. That was all that anyone else needed to know. Hansel finally offered, "Jonn took care of Luci by himself for about three years before I found'em, y'know." He was pulling apart a piece of bread without eating it. Still, he looked vaguely proud. "Two years," Luci corrected without looking at him. She didn't remember that part, either. She shifted the collar of her robe closer to her neck. The burn scars probably weren't visible; she had just suddenly become aware of the fact that they still existed. She smiled at Roddy. "What was the circus like?" 'Muse: ' Roddy glanced back and forth between the two of them, feeling a little lost. Jonn was her 'only family'- maybe she just misspoke? Or Roddy was misunderstanding? Sure. That was it. Had to be. "Oh well, the circus was- well, not as glamorous as people seem to think," Roddy said. If he'd been human he would have wrinkled his nose but as it was, his face just scrunched weirdly. "Long days on the road, cold nights when your wagon doesn't really keep out the wind, and then you hit town and that's a whole new kettle of worms right there. Never know if your gonna end up run out of town with torches and pitchforks or make more money than you've seen all year. But then I'd get up on stage and, well, it was all worth it. Mostly." Nothing was worth putting up with Amren but that was another story. "So you and Jonn must be really close then?" Roddy asked, grabbing for some apple slices. "That must be nice. Wish I'd had that when I was growing up." 'Izzy: ' Luci listened to him talk about the circus, captivated. It still sounded a little glamorous. She only remembered living at the Sanctuary -- a life on the road, with new adventures in every town -- even if it was dangerous, sometimes -- well, it would be a change. It would be exciting. And with her magic, she could probably make a lot of people on the road happier and healthier. Sometimes she wondered if she could do more good out there than in the Sanctuary. Maybe Roddy could help her with that. But then he changed the topic back to Jonn. And she wasn't really sure that he actually wanted to talk about the circus, and all that, from his tone. She should probably leave that alone, even though she really wanted to hear about his performing. "Um," she said, not sure how to respond. Hansel bailed her out. "Jonn's older than he looks. He's got seven years on Luci. They didn't really have a lot in common, growing up. Right?" She nodded, relieved. "Yes, he um -- you know, he always wanted to be a pirate, like Hansel? And I like being a healer. We don't really ..." She had to phrase this in a way that Roddy wouldn't be upset by. She knew he already liked Jonn. "I mean, yes. We do love each other very much. He looked out for me. Um. I'm sorry you didn't have that, before." The bar must be quite low for him to be so fond of Jonn and Hansel, which made her sad. "Jonn's a good brother, though." She smiled. 'Muse: ' Uh oh. Roddy maybe should not have talked about the circus. He found himself sitting up a little straighter, alarmed. Looked like he was encouraging Luci, and no, that was a terrible idea, she'd get chewed up and spit out and end up sad, lonely and miserable. No more talking to Luci about circus life. Wait a minute. Roddy turned to Hansel, staring in astonishment. "You were a pirate? I thought pirates were all- grrrr and stuff! Well okay you are kinda grrrr but you're all nice under that. How come no one ever told me you were a pirate??" 'Izzy: ' Hansel blinked. He glanced at Luci, and she shrugged slightly. He was the one who had apparently neglected to mention this; she didn't know what she was supposed to do about it. How was she meant to know better than to mention something he'd done for longer than she'd even been alive? The thing he'd kept on and kept on bringing back to the Sanctuary? He didn't have that guilty look, though. Of course not. More confused. "Never came up, I guess?" he said. "Honestly thought you knew already, kid. It's why I know how to sail. Mishka was my captain." He genuinely did look puzzled. "It's -- why Jonn was so fuckin' excited about living on the Sugar Glider. I was always telling him pirate stories and shit, when he was a kid." Luci brushed some crumbs off her robes, looking down. Touched her staff briefly for comfort. Hansel seemed to pick up on it. "Which, y'know, I probably shouldn't've done," he added. "But." He shrugged. That was all he had. 'Muse: ' Oh. Well. "You know in retrospect that is obvious isn't it." Roddy said, scratching at the back of his head. "Huh. Well I knew we were all a bunch of criminals before, guess now I know which your particular type is." Piracy. Hm. Yeah, not something Roddy'd want to get into. Too much murder. But Hansel was good at stabbing things, it did make sense. "Why do you say that though? That you shouldn't have told Jonn those stories," Roddy asked. Stories were good, Roddy liked stories. Sometimes he wished he could manage to tell them too, but that never seemed to go well. November 20, 2018 '''Izzy: Luci tried and failed to contain a little laugh at the 'particular type of criminal' comment, looking away for a moment and quickly putting a strawberry in her mouth. She guessed that the we thing implied Roddy had done ... something, too. But he was far too nice, she thought, for it to have been anything really bad. Or -- she just didn't know him well enough yet. She preferred to think it was the former. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hansel smiling a bit at her laugh. There was that expression again, the gentle one. It wasn't congruous with the other things she knew about him. With the things his crewman had told her, not knowing who she was. "Uh, y'know." He rubbed the back of his neck. "It's, uh." She refused to throw him a line, looking down at her food. "They weren't ... nice fuckin' stories, Roddy. I dunno if Mishka told you any, but he makes it sound a lot more fuckin' romantic than it is." "Jonn liked the bloody ones," Luci said quietly, still without looking up. Hansel winced. "Yeah. He did. And I didn't ... There's shit a kid shouldn't hear about, y'know? And I didn't know that at the time, so -- I probably put some fucked up ideas in his head, is all." Luci glanced up to check Roddy's reaction to this. Muse: Oh. Right. That- was a thing that some people thought about. Roddy's gaze dropped and he started picking at the knee of his pants. "...Nobody really cared about that with me either," he admitted. "Probably just proves the point more, huh?" he glanced up, giving a wry little smile. "Course, we were mostly just thieves so all the good stories were about not getting caught. I have some good ones of those." Izzy: "It's not that I didn't care --," Hansel started, looking concerned. Luci cut him off, and he stopped talking even though her voice was soft. "He just didn't know any better." She smiled. It didn't quite reach her eyes. Hansel looked away. She hadn't really meant to upset him, it was just -- and she didn't want Roddy to be upset, either, so she touched his hand briefly, trying to direct his attention away from Hansel. "I don't think that proves the point at all," she said quietly, but firmly. "I think you're very nice, and it doesn't matter if you used to be a thief." Muse: Luci thought he was nice. Roddy smiled a little wider and more genuinely, automatically turning his hand to clasp Luci's. Only- wait. What was that other part? "Doesn't- matter I used to be a thief?" he said slowly. That- was weird. Didn't settle quite right. Roddy shot a look at Hansel, then back at Luci. Did he- want to prod at that more? Izzy: Luci nodded, still firmly, and looked out at the crystal clear lake of swords. "Eldath teaches us that no one is beyond forgiveness and reform if they make right their troubled past." She ... she did struggle with that, sometimes, but it was what she tried to believe. She looked back to Roddy, frowning a little. "And -- and I don't think that being a thief is that bad. There are worse things. Um, Jonn was a thief when we were children, before Hansel found us, and it's the only reason we survived. I mean ..." She remembered how young Roddy was, now. "If you were a child, I don't think you had a choice, either. And --" oh, she was talking too much, she needed to stop -- "and anyway, you're a good person. That's, um. The point." Then she looked away too. She shouldn't have said all of that in front of Hansel -- she cut her eyes at him and saw he'd gotten all ... crestfallen. She hated it when he did that. But she couldn't take it back now. She picked at the hem of her robe. Muse: Right. So. She- didn't like the thief thing. Roddy should- probably not mention that he had no qualms about going back to thievery, he just didn't need to at the moment. ...But he liked Luci. And he wanted Luci to like him. But he didn't want to lie to her either. Roddy shot Hansel a look, wide-eyed and unsure. But Hansel didn't seem entirely happy either. Maybe this picnic had been a mistake. Mistake or not though, Roddy wasn't about to just give up. He reached out, resting a hand on Hansel's shoulder and glancing back to Luci. "You know, we uh, we do the best we can," he said. "I um, I don't really think I'm that good of a person, not really. It's- nice you think so but. I think you might be off, a bit. I just- I care about my team and my family." Another glance towards Hansel. "I think- I think that's really important though. Caring. I mean, in my book, that's- that's really what makes a person 'good'." Izzy: He got it. Luci thought that Roddy had mentioned worshipping Helm, before, or some other god, but his perspective on compassion -- that all sounded Eldathyn to her. She smiled, relieved that her rambling hadn't been out of line. "I think you're right. It's the entire basis of my cleric studies," she said eagerly, leaning in a little, excited about it. "It's important to look out for other people, especially the people you call your family. Jonn, um -- he has his flaws, but he does do that. He -- he always knew to do that, even when we were very, very young." She brushed the awkwardness of talking about Jonn aside and beamed at Roddy. "So you are a good person, by your own metric. And certainly by mine." The thing was -- Luci had immediately believed that Roddy must be a good person, regardless of whether he was a thief. He had to be, to see the good in Jonn and Hansel. Frankly, he would probably make a better Eldathyn than she was, right now, because she knew perfectly well what her words were doing to Hansel. He cleared his throat abruptly when she was done, and patted the hand Roddy had put on his shoulder before pushing himself up and quickly taking a couple steps back. "Y'know, I just remembered, uh, I actually gotta go, uh, take care of something with Mishka." He gestured vaguely over his shoulder. "This was really great, though, kid." A couple more steps back. "I'll see you both later." An awkward wave, and he turned to practically flee the clearing. Luci watched him for a moment before shrugging at Roddy. She knew she was supposed to feel guilty for hurting Hansel, but she also hated that she did. Once he'd realized what Jonn was like -- after ignoring what the clerics had been telling him for years -- he'd cried on her shoulder and apologized and clearly felt guilty, and she'd cried with him and been so relieved that maybe he would finally, actually do something. But he hadn't. He still just let Jonn run rampant in the city. Wallowing in his guilt was more important than keeping Jonn in check. Roddy would see this, eventually. She didn't want him to turn on the two of them -- she actually thought he might be quite a good influence on them. Genuinely good people helped others become good, too. She -- she wished she had that ability. Hansel just made her so fucking angry. Muse: What. What no. Roddy sat bolt up right, looking from one to the other. No this wasn't- no. This was supposed to be a happy little get together. Family time. Not- watch it fall apart around his (metaphorical) ears. "Hansel- Luci-" Roddy started to say, looking from one to the other. He settled on meeting Luci's gaze, searching her expression for- something. He didn't know what. Didn't know if he found it either. "Scuse me," he said, scrambling to his feet and bolting to follow Hansel. "Hansel!" he called, reaching for his arm. "Is this- are you-" What did he want to know? Roddy wasn't sure. "Are- are you okay?" That would work. Izzy: Hansel stopped around the corner, sighing and leaning his forehead against the cool stone wall of the Sanctuary. Fuck, that had been a really awful attempt at a lie. He'd just remembered Mishka's "had to go take care of something" excuse from earlier, when he'd covered for Hansel fucking panicking over a goddamn octopus, and Roddy had been there when Mishka had said that. Hopefully he wouldn't notice. Eldath. He only had a second to collect himself before Roddy called his name, and he straightened with a jerk. Shit, should've kept moving -- couldn't really sell the meeting Mishka thing if he was just fucking standing here barely out of sight. "Yeah," he said hastily, waving it off, "y'know, it's uh --." He'd kept saying it's complicated to Jonn and that had fuckin' backfired on him. "I'm good." He did smile, genuinely, that the kid had come after him and asked. "You hang out with Luci. I gotta go, uh, do this thing with Mishka." He gestured over his shoulder again. It was fucking unbelievable how bad he was at this, honestly. He paused. "Thanks for asking, though." He should say something about this though, before it became a problem. "Look, Luce and I don't always ... get along. I mean, neither do me and Jonn, y'know? It's all fine. It happens." He wanted to say we're still family, because he knew that was the right thing to say to Roddy, but -- he didn't think Luci would back him up on it. Muse: Roddy had the distinct feeling that everything was, in fact, not fine. Hansel seemed- Roddy wasn't sure. Suspected he was lying, but if he wanted to leave then Roddy wouldn't stop him. "I thought it'd be fun. The three of us hanging out," he said softly, rubbing at his arm. "Didn't- realize. Sorry." This family thing kept getting harder and harder. Just about when Roddy was getting the hang of it, something new cropped up and he had to re-figure it again. This thing with Luci... Part of Roddy was wondering if it was worth it to try and move past it. Part of Roddy felt guilty about that. Most of Roddy wanted to listen to Hansel. (Besides, he already didn't like Mishka, adding Luci on top of that would make things even more complicated.) "Okay. If your sure," he said, still lingering near. Not really wanting to go, not yet. Hug, that'd delay it a bit. And it was reassuring too. Roddy stepped forwards and wrapped his arms around Hansel. Yeah. This worked. Izzy: Hansel ... did not deserve this. He winced at the apology, and the hug. The kid was so goddamn well-meaning. It wasn't fair to him that he'd gotten adopted into this ramshackle, damaged fucking family and now there was no way out that wouldn't be just as damaging as staying around them. Hansel needed to start thinking ahead with this shit, before he picked up any more orphans. Shouldn't've let Roddy meet Jonn in the first place, shouldn't've let Jonn tell Roddy about Luci. Ah, fuck. It was too late now, and if Roddy was going to be around any of them, it should be Luci, Eldath knew. "It's not your fault, kid." Hansel patted his shell. "It was a good idea. S'thoughtful. And you put a lotta work into it." He couldn't find it in himself to be annoyed at Luci for ruining it. He'd done most of the work on that himself, over the years -- all she had to do was point it out. "Another time, yeah? When everyone's not all fuckin' worked up." He wanted to add we'll get Jonn in on it then, too, again because he thought Roddy would like the idea, but there was no need to make it worse for himself on down the road, promising shit like that when Jonn and Luci weren't on speaking terms and he didn't even fucking know if Jonn was still alive. He'd had the vague idea that Jonn might've gotten spooked and come to the town around Sanctuary even though he wasn't supposed to be around the temple itself -- maybe he'd feel safer here, or something. No dice, though. Not yet. Making sure the wince wasn't still on his face, he pulled back, leaving a hand on the kid's shoulder for a second to give him an attempt at a smile. It went better, this time, he thought. He did actually feel a bit better after the hug. What a good kid. Guessed when he'd absolutely nothing to do with raising them, they could turn out all right. Hansel gave Roddy a brief wave and turned to go. He actually was going to track Mishka down, now that he thought about it. He wouldn't want to hear about the fucking parenting drama, but they could find some other kind of trouble to get into to distract themselves from the fact that Nixie was gone, at least. Muse: "Bye," Roddy said, giving a little wave to Hansel's retreating back. Another time. Right. And this time it wouldn't be some stupid surprise picnic so that if everyone wanted to show, then they could show and it could be nice and relaxing and not awkward. Oh. He was a little angry about this wasn't he? Huh. That didn't usually happen. Roddy waited a few seconds, watching Hansel go before turning back around and trudging over to re-join Luci. "I'm back," he announced- uselessly because no doubt Luci already noticed that. He plopped down, a little bit further than he'd been before this time. "Hansel's gonna go- hang out with Mishka," he said, grabbing at- some bowl of something. "Guess it's- just us now." He didn't look directly at her, poking instead at whatever it was he'd grabbed. Trying to wrestle that resentment back under control. Wasn't like it did any good- and besides, he liked Luci. Izzy: Luci was looking down, picking at the hem of her robe again, when Roddy returned. She hadn't expected that he would, if she were being honest -- Hansel had that way of commanding loyalty from people, though she didn't think he even knew he was doing it. She hesitated when Roddy rejoined her, clearly listless at the absence of their father. "Is he -- is he very upset?" she asked, quietly, without looking up. Muse: Roddy hesitated, turning the question over in his mind. There were a lot of ways to answer that question. "Not with us," he settled on. Spooned a big mouthful of whatever-it-was in his mouth. And then gagged and spit it out. That had been salad dressing. "...I'm not fond of salad dressing," he announced, finally glancing over at Luci, to see her reaction. Izzy: She mulled this over. Hansel likely wouldn't have admitted it if he were -- he only really got openly emotional when he was drinking -- and she didn't know if Roddy would notice the signs regardless, or if he would cover for Hansel if he had. Too many variables. Maybe she should have gone after him herself. But she probably would have just found herself saying something else specifically crafted to stab him in the chest. And then she was startled by Roddy's sudden reaction to not paying attention to what he was putting in his mouth. She stared at him. "I don't think you're supposed to eat it by the spoonful, in fairness to salad dressing," she said blankly. Muse: Okay now, Roddy was offended. And he was gonna tell Luci that too, gearing up to go into a rant, and everything. But really. There was no point. He slumped, scratching at his neck. "You're not wrong," he grumbled. "I'm just a little- distracted. Is all." Izzy: "Yes." She looked down again. "I'm sorry." She didn't like apologizing -- not because there was anything wrong with it as a practice, but just because Jonn had done it all the time, reflexively. And she was picking at her nails, and he did that, too; she made herself stop and curled her fingers into her palms. "You know," she said, looking towards Roddy without looking directly at him, "when Jonn and I were younger, Hansel would visit us here, just a few times a year, when he had shore leave. Jonn was always very excited to see him, but --." She hesitated. "To me he was just a large, strange man with sharp teeth who had to be disarmed at the door before the clerics would even let him in. I found him quite scary," she admitted. She'd never told Hansel that. It seemed like something he should be able to realize on his own. "I suppose he is rather nice, for a pirate." November 21, 2018 Muse: Roddy stopped, actually looking at Luci now. Part of him wanted to jump to Hansel's defense. Another part of him... Well. Hansel was a big, scary looking half-orc. "Yeah, he does have an- intimidating air, I suppose," Roddy said, giving a small smile. "I- was a little scared too. At first. Not like I had a choice though, I sort of- had to work with him or else- well. Let's just say adventuring was definitely the better option. And then I got to know him better and- well. I'm not scared any more." Izzy: She found herself picking at her nails, again, and made herself stop, again. "Yes. Well." Roddy was almost as tall as Hansel. He seemed a bit -- uncoordinated, and maybe not particularly strong, really, but at least he could look Hansel in the eyes. At least Hansel couldn't just pick him up without asking. "I didn't have much of a choice, either." She wasn't sure when she'd stopped being afraid of him, or if she had. But she put on a smile, because Roddy had, and she didn't want to make all of this worse. Maybe she should have been the one to storm off, but if not that, then she wasn't going to keep bringing things down. "We should talk about something else. It's, um, it's rude to talk about people behind their backs, I think." Muse: "Oh uh, okay then," Roddy said. Was Luci wanting to change the subject a good thing or a bad thing? Roddy wasn't sure. But maybe it would be better for them to talk about something less- intense. "How's, um, how's clericing going?" he asked. "Doing a lot of that- healing people up good?" ...Well now that was just awkward now. November 22, 2018 Izzy: Luci was picking at her nails again and couldn't quite stop herself this time. "Um. You know. It's going well." She didn't want this to be so ... uncomfortable. She should have thought ahead. She should have realized that upsetting Hansel would upset Roddy, and kept her mouth shut. They had both just wanted it to be a nice little family picnic and she'd gone and -- She wasn't going to be able to salvage this situation, was she? And she really liked Roddy. If Hansel just hadn't been involved, it would have been fine. She thought about bringing Jonn up, because that would have at least been slightly less awkward, absurdly, but it would probably just lead to something even worse. Things with Jonn usually ended up that way. "Actually, um, you know." Oh, she was just as bad at lying as Hansel was. "I have patients I should probably get back to. I have -- a lot of responsibilities." She picked up her staff and twisted it in her hands for a second before standing. "This was, um, really nice of you to put together, though, Roddy," she tried, and became suddenly worried that he might try to hug her if she dawdled, so she quickly said, "I'll -- I'll see you next time, okay?" before spinning to bolt for the Sanctuary. She ... definitely could have handled absolutely every part of that better. Muse: Wait- she was leaving? Already? Roddy surged to his feet, so many different thoughts on his mind. So many different ways to react. Ask her to stay, say good riddance, cry? "Okay. Um, bye," he settled on, waving at her retreating back. Then sank back down to the ground, staring glumly at the barely-touched food. This was supposed to have gone well. This was supposed to have been a happy time, where Roddy could hang out with his family. Instead it was- this. Both had left, he wasn't sure what had happened and- family was just so complicated. ...Roddy was a lot closer to crying than he was really comfortable with. Family. He'd just- he'd pack up and give this back. Then go- he didn't know. Sulk somewhere, probably. If Hansel wasn't part of the problem he might have gone to look for him. But as it was. Nah. Roddy'd be fine on his own. END Category:Text Roleplay